The following is a fictional presentation of how America
could become truly exceptional, the great things it could accomplish, if by
some miracle this government would be transformed into one with a positive
vision of how to turn this country in a new direction; one in which the interests
of this country and its people would be paramount in all government planning
and functions.

In this fictional scenario America has already risen to the
level of an exceptional nation and we are depicting how that happened; how that
process to turn America in a new, positive direction was initiated and then
evolved. It all started in 2018 with this breaking news that electrified our nation's
capital and the entire country.

December 1, 2018: "Today the White House press secretary announced
that the administration was initiating a massive job creation program by which
the government and the business sector are collaborating on the development of
new industries and jobs for millions of Americans; details will be released
very soon. The objective of this program and methods of funding have been
finalized and the Congress, Democrats and Republicans, are now on board and
fully support the endeavor."

This great initiative signaled a new start for America. It was
all made possible when the Congress, with Republicans and Democrats compromising
on the issues involved, came up with a plan to totally overhaul and reform the
U.S. corporate tax code; included in it was a significant lowering of the tax
rate, closing loopholes that had allowed certain powerful corporations to evade
paying taxes, and the establishment of tariffs on specified foreign imports
from countries that had long imposed strong restrictions on their imports of
U.S. products and services.

- Advertisement -

The massive outsourcing of jobs that America had been
experiencing for years was greatly diminished in the following years and has
become negligible. Exciting new industries have since emerged and millions of American
workers now have good paying jobs. Corporations reacted positively to the lower
tax rates and also came to the realization that the sale of their products here
in America was greatly dependent on consumer purchasing power; and that they
were hurting themselves when they outsourced jobs to overseas nations.

The effect on the economy was very significant as the sharp
increase in new jobs served to greatly increase consumer purchasing power; the
stale, stagnant economy was replaced by a vibrant, growing one.

The rebuilding of our nation's once strong manufacturing
sector and job creation helped immensely in addressing and mitigating the
massive problem of inequality of wealth and income in America. It gave millions
more Americans the opportunity to make a better living, the housing industry
boomed along with purchases of consumer goods; the American Dream was given new
life. While this inequality is still present to some degree it has been greatly
relieved.

- Advertisement -

Then, in a series of subsequent announcements over the next
several years here is what the American people witnessed:

A very ambitious program began to develop new forms of
alternate energy; solar, wind, geothermal and others, to eventually replace
petroleum as America's chief energy source. Millions of new jobs were created
in this exciting new industry; America now is the world leader in solar energy,
solar panels and associated products all of which have significantly increased
U.S. exports. The wars and conflicts over the control of oil are receding. The
U.S. military and empire of bases have been substantially scaled back as the
need to protect our oil interests and supply routes overseas has diminished. This
program of energy development will go hand in hand with new government
initiatives for dealing with Climate Change and Global Warming.

The work to repair and rebuild our national infrastructure
is well underway utilizing the $1 trillion dollars of funding that was
appropriated for use over the next ten years. Millions of new jobs were created
to repair bridges and highways; we are seeing the development and
implementation of high speed rail, new forms of mass transit, and bullet trains.
The utilization of modern rail systems across the country will result in a
great reduction in truck traffic which will make highway travel for Americans
far safer.

A government spokesman just reported that the U.S. and China
will begin talks relating to joint ventures in selected regions of the world;
it's an effort to decrease tensions between the two countries. The White House
has announced that its "Asian Pivot" that was designed to greatly strengthen
U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific region and to minimize that of China will be
cancelled. This, again, will help to further decrease tensions with China.

The U.S. and their European allies have decided to bring an
end to the era of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; the nations of
Europe have plans to create their own military defense organization. NATO's
aggressive agenda to attempt to surround Russia with military power has been an
abject failure and the costs of maintaining this military organization can no longer
be justified by the parties involved.

With the substantial amount of funding that has been transferred
from military operations into domestic purposes the following additional
government initiatives are now in effect.

- Advertisement -

*The plan to vastly improve America's education system and,
once again, make it world class, is swiftly being implemented, with the
greatest areas of concentration being math and science. America now has free
college tuition for those who attend public and community colleges; and, for
those who need student loans, there is a government program whereby they will
receive very low interest rates.

*Attention to the massive problem of violence and terrorism
in America has now become a very high priority; every aspect of this problem is
being addressed in order to come up with effective solutions. The mass
shootings can no longer be tolerated. This program is being progressed by the nation's
most prominent experts on violence, its causes, and ways to deal with it; there
will be no stone unturned until this vexing problem is brought under control.

Michael Payne is an independent, progressive activist. His writings deal with social, economic, political and foreign policy issues. He is a featured writer on Opednews and Nation of Change and his articles have appeared on many other websites (more...)